Sask Health Coalition joins call for provincial government to reinstate harm reduction funding

On January 18, the provincial government announced sudden changes to their harm reduction funding policies, explaining that "“no third-party organization will be permitted to use funding provided by the Ministry of Health or the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA)” for the provision of pipes or information on how to mitigate harm while consuming illicit drugs." (Leader-Post). Many harm reduction advocates and healthcare workers have spoken up against these changes, claiming they are not in line with current best practices.

The Sask Health Coalition supports calls from community advocates demanding that the government reinstate this funding for harm reduction services. To that effect, we have endorsed and shared a recently circulated petition from Students for Harm Reduction and Informed Policy (SHRIP), a student group at the University of Saskatchewan. Please see links below to the SHRIP statement and petition, as well as other community statements and news articles about these recently announced changes.

SHRIP statement / SHRIP petition

Prairie Harm Reduction statement

Sask Union of Nurses (SUN) statement

Leader-Post: Sask. ends provision of drug pipes, instructions for safe drug use to harm reduction organizations